


The Bottle of Parenthood

by AlwaystheCatLady



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Female Harry, Teen Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2018-03-11 10:37:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3324431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaystheCatLady/pseuds/AlwaystheCatLady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU-Fem!Harry The night of the Yule Ball ended a little differently.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Finding Out

Jesse Potter stumbled as a rock dislodged making her feet slip a little down the small mountain that she was climbing. She stayed still as she heard something move up ahead, but after nothing appeared after a minute, she adjusted her invisibility cloak, and started to walk, a little more carefully this time. She had only been here once, and that was in broad daylight without the need to hide under the cloak. This time it was much harder, but she knew she had no other choice in the matter. Not one she was willing to take anyway.

  
She finally reached the entrance of the cave, and stepped inside. A low growl emitted from the darkness. She froze. Another growl. This time closer.

  
“It’s okay,” She licked her lips. “Snuffles it’s okay. It’s me.”

  
There was a pause.

  
“Lumos.” A light appeared on the tip a wand, illuminating the small space. “Jesse? Is that you?” Sirius Black whispered.

  
Jesse pulled off the cloak, and watched as her godfather’s eyes widened. He rushed towards her, pulling her way from the entrance saying, “What are you thinking? Why are you here? You shouldn’t have sneaked out.”

  
“I had to Sirius,” she said. “I need help, and you’re the only one I can think of who can.”

  
His face was troubled as he sat down. She copied him.

  
“Help? But the second task is over. You said you did well,” he said.

  
“I know. This isn’t about that,” she said, looking down at her hands.

 

“Did something else happen? Ron or Hermione –”

  
“They don’t know I’m here. No one does,” she said, glancing up at him. He looked confused and worried.

  
“Jesse tell me what’s wrong. I can help.”

  
“I know. It’s why I came here, but.” She sighed. “You’re going to be angry.”

  
He leaned forward, grabbing her hands. “C’mon kid, you’re worrying me here. Tell me what’s going on.”

  
“I need to get to a muggle pharmacy,” she whispered.

  
He furrowed his eyebrows. “If you’re sick why don’t you just go to Pomfrey?”

  
“Because, Sirius, I think I’m pregnant,” she said, looking straight into his eyes.

  
His mouth opened up. His eyes widened. His grip on her hands loosened. Jesse knew that whatever he had been expecting, it hadn’t been that. She found it hard to believe as well.

  
“Pregnant?” he whispered.

  
“It’s just a guess though. I have to be sure,” she said quickly. “And I didn’t want to go to Madam Pomfrey because what if I’m wrong? I don’t want it to get out.”

  
“Jesse you’re fourteen,” he said.

 

She wondered if he had heard a word of what she had said. “I know. Believe me, I know.”

  
He jumped up and started pacing around. “Obviously not, or we wouldn’t be in this situation. Who is he? Who did this? It was consensual, right?” He stopped then, looking horrified at the thought.

  
“No one forced me,” she said.

  
He nodded and went back to pacing. “So who is he?”

  
“He . . . I,” she stuttered.

  
“Was it Ron? I’ll kill him,” he snarled. He looked like he was going to go to march into Hogwarts right that second.

  
“What? No,” she exclaimed, getting up and standing in front of him. “Sirius please. Can’t we just make sure I am before I tell you?”

  
He looked at her steadily for a few long moments. Jesse wasn’t sure what he was looking for, or what he had found, but after a tense silence his shoulders slumped, and he nodded. “Okay, fine. So how far along do you think you are?”

  
“Two months,” she said, wrapping her arms around her middle.

  
“Christmas then,” he said, softly. He tilted his head back, and rubbed at his stubble.

  
She didn’t say anything. He eyed her before dropping his hands, and sighing.

  
“Okay. Okay, I can’t get to a muggle pharmacy right now, but there is a wizarding one right here in Hogsmeade. Let me go get a test. Stay here. Don’t move,” he warned, before he transformed into Padfoot, and took off.

  
Jesse sighed, and was going to sit down, but a rustling from in the cave startled her. She pulled out her wand and asked, “Who’s there?”

  
Buckbeak walked slowly forward. She lowered her wand, and bent into a bow. When Buckbeak bowed back, she walked forward. “Hello. How have you been?” She petted his smooth feathers for a bit. “I think I really messed up this time. I don’t know what I’m going to do if my suspicions are true. Everyone’s going to hate me.”

  
“Not everyone.”

  
Jesse gasped, spinning around. Sirius was looking at her seriously. She wondered how much he got back so fast before she noticed the potion he was holding. In the vial was a white potion. The test.

  
“You need to put a couple drops of blood in it. If it stays the same it’s negative. If it changes color, it’s positive,” he explained, walking closer to her.

  
Buckbeak went to lay down again. Jesse held out her hand as Sirius pulled a knife out.

  
“Ready?” he asked.

  
Biting her lip, she nodded. He gently pressed the cold metal against her index finger. Big drops of blood welled up. He guided her hand over the opening of the vial, and they both watched as the blood dripped into it. They watched with bated breath as the color stayed that way, but it only did for a moment before it slowly started changing to green.

  
“Positive,” she breathed.

  
Sirius nodded, his mouth set in a firm line. “Too early to tell the gender. It would have changed to either blue or pink otherwise.”

  
“Yeah,” she said, distantly. She had hoped so much to be wrong, and now she couldn’t pretend that everything was going to be okay. Without her permission, her throat tightened up and tears welled up in her eyes.

  
“Oh Jesse,” Sirius sighed, wrapping his arms around her. That broke the damn, and she started sobbing in earnest.

  
“What am I going to do, Sirius? How can I take care of a baby? I can barley take care of myself!” she coughed, a loud hacking cough, still crying. “I’m in the tournament and Voldemort wants to kill me and everyone is going to hate me.”

  
“Shh,” he said stroking her hair. “This isn’t the greatest situation, but we will deal with it. I’ll be there with you every step of the way.”

  
“Not when I tell you who the father is,” she said, sniffing but the tears seem to have disappeared now.

  
“Is it really that bad?” he asked, pulling back a little. “You know I am going to be mad no matter who it is.”

  
She smiled weakly, and decided to get it over with already. “Draco Malfoy.”

  
It was clear that whatever he had been thinking, it wasn't that. “Wh-what? But you always fight with him. I heard you had an epic rivalry with him.”

  
Jesse shrugged looking down at her feet. She couldn’t really explain what had happened. It was all so confusing. One minute she was at the Yule Ball and then next she was in the Slytherin boy’s dorm. One minute Malfoy was being almost nice to her and the next he amped up his cruelty by ten.

  
“You have to tell him,” Sirius said, after long moments of silence.

  
“Do I really?” she looked up beseechingly, even though she knew the answer.

  
“He’s the father. He is in this just as much as you are,” he said, more stern than she had ever heard her godfather. “Now, I want you to go back to your dorm and get some rest. Tomorrow, you will tell him. And you will also tell him that on Friday night you will both be meeting with me, here.”

  
“What? No!” Jesse pulled away completely. “That’s a big risk Sirius. I can’t have you getting into trouble.”

  
“I won’t get into trouble. Malfoy is my cousin. Jesse, you’re going to do this,” he said.

  
“Cousin?” she asked.

 

“Yes, I’ll explain later. Tell me you’ll do what I said.”

  
She looked at him and saw he wasn’t going to budge. She had to do it. Sighing she nodded. “I’ll do it.”

  
“Okay. Come like you did tonight. And don’t tell anyone else about this yet,” he said.

  
She wondered why, but knew she wouldn’t get an answer just yet. She nodded again. “I better get going.” She picked up her cloak. “And Sirius? I’m really sorry.”  
He smiled at her weakly. “I know you are kiddo. I know you are.”

  
***

  
Jesse paced around the room. He was late. A couple seconds late, but late all the same. Now she knew how Snape felt. She had did what Sirius had asked of her, and, in the middle of Herbology, dropped a note telling Malfoy to meet her after dinner in the abandoned classroom on the third floor. But he wasn’t there yet, and she was really freaking out. _What if he didn’t show? What if he didn’t believe me? What if—_

  
“If I didn’t know better, Potter, I would say you wanted a repeat performance of before, but the famous Girl-Who-Lived wouldn’t want anything to do with a slimey Slytherin, would she?”

  
She turned around so fast she almost got whiplash. There he was, Draco Malfoy, the same as he always was. Pale hair, pale skin, piercing eyes, cool confidence, but without the vicious sneer that had taken up his face ever since the Second Task had happened. He looked like he did the night of the Yule Ball, the night –

  
“Well, Potter? Why did you need to see me for?” he asked, walking further into the room.

  
“Er . . . Well I,” she stuttered. “You see . . the thing is, er.”

  
He raised an eyebrow at her, walking even closer to her. “I don’t have all day you know.”

  
“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out.

  
He stopped in the middle of taking another step. His reaction was just like her godfather’s. Wide eyes, mouth opened. “Wh-what?” he whispered.

  
“I’m pregnant. About two months now,” she said, staring intently at his face. Fear was flickering through his eyes. She knew the feeling. She just hoped he would take responsibility. It would be ten times harder without the father around.

  
“And you think it’s mine?”

  
“I know the baby is yours,” Jesse said coldly, anger washing through her. “You’re the only person I’ve been with.”

  
“Yeah, me too,” he said, distantly. She didn’t know why, but that confession made her a little happier.

  
They lapsed into silence. Jesse moved to sit on a desk, and started playing with her hands. She knew it would take time for this to process, and she wanted to give him some semblance of privacy while he did it.

  
Sometime later, she wasn’t sure the exact time since her watch was still broken, she felt his presence directly in front of her. Looking up, she was startled by his fierce expression.

  
“Who else knows?” he asked, very seriously.

  
“Er-You and . . my godfather,” she said hesitantly.

  
“Godfather?” he raised an eyebrow.

  
“Sirius Black,” she whispered.

  
“The murderer?” he asked, shock plain on his face.

  
“He’s innocent!” she exclaimed. “He was framed.”

  
Malfoy looked like he didn’t know whether to believe that. “And you’ve known where he was this whole time?”

  
“Not the whole time,” she said. “But why did you want to know about who knows? Sirius said I should only tell you, and no one else.”

  
“Not even the Weasel?” he asked, snidely.

  
“Don’t call him that,” Jesse frowned. “And of course I didn’t tell him. He would fly off the handle.”

  
“Well, good,” he said. “I need to tell my parents before anyone else finds out.”

  
“But you’re dad wants to kill me,” she said before she could stop herself.

  
Malfoy looked at her sharply, anger building up on his face, before, abruptly, it left. “Family is everything to Malfoys. You are carrying the next Malfoy heir,” he explained. “Even if he is reluctant about it at first, you are family now, and will be treated as such.”

  
Jesse felt dizzy. Whatever she had been expecting from this meeting, it was the exact opposite of this. Family? Really? “Does this mean you’re going to acknowledge the baby? You’ll be in its life?”

  
“I’m not a muggle, Potter. Of course I will be,” he said, the snobbery she was so familiar with making its way into his voice.

 

“Of course,” she repeated, smiling faintly. “Oh, and Sirius wants to meet you. On Friday.”

  
If Jesse didn’t know better, she would have said Malfoy looked worried. But he didn’t say anything, just nodded.

  
“So meet me by the one-eyed witch statue on this floor, right before curfew. We’re supposed to go together. And he said not to tell anyone else right now,” she said.

  
Malfoy frowned but nodded. “I’ll meet you there.”

  
“See you,” she said, watching as he paused, looking back at her at the doorway, before leaving completely.

  
Well that went better than I ever thought it would.

  
***

  
When Jesse arrived at the statue of the one-eyed witch, Malfoy was already there. She was already under the invisibility cloak, so she took her time examining him while he was unaware.

At first, he looked like he always did: snobby, expressionless, the prince of his own little world. But then she could see his eyes flicker nervously, and the way his fingers would rub each other quickly before straightening out. She bit her lip gazing at him, thinking, wondering.

“Hey,” she whispered, pulling off the cloak.

Malfoy jumped, taking her in and then settling on the cloak.

“An invisibility cloak. That’s how you never get in trouble,” he said. There was no sneer or malice in his voice.

“Er –Yeah,” she said. “Let’s get going, shall we?”

He nodded and watched as she withdrew her wand and pointed it at the statue.

“Dissendium.”

“How did you know this was here?” he asked, following her down the path.

“I can’t reveal all my secrets, now can I?” She smiled as she heard him huff, but didn’t turn to look at him, picturing the glare that was sure to be on his face.

They were silent the rest of the way to Honeydukes where they put on the invisibility cloak, and they were silent as they reached the edge of the village started the hard climb up the mountain. It was slow going, much slower than Jesse wanted it to go, but they didn’t want to accidently trip and fall. Malfoy seemed to be very worried about that particular fact, steadying her with a hand on her wrist or back when she wobbled a little. Jesse found she didn’t mind much.

Sirius was sitting next to a sleeping Buckbeak when they arrived, but stood up as soon as they took off the cloak.

“Malfoy,” he said. Jesse couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Mr. Black,” Malfoy bowed his head respectively. He looked paler than normal.

Sirius looked startled. Jesse’s lip twitched. “Call me Sirius. Now did you do as I tell you? No one else knows?”

“I haven’t told anybody,” Jesse said.

“I haven’t told anyone either. But I need to tell my parents. They’ll want to know why they weren’t informed first thing,” Malfoy said.

“That won’t be a problem because we are going to meet with them right now,” Sirius said, simply.

Jesse couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her, and she saw Draco start with equal surprise. “But, how?” she asked.

“I sent them a letter after you left me telling them to meet us here. It is best to inform them at once, and then we can plan from there,” he said.

“Are you sure that it is safe?” Jesse couldn’t help but to question. She saw Malfoy’s face pinch in annoyance, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Sirius was more important than his feelings. And his dad was a Death Eater. He couldn’t deny that.

“Yes I’m sure. There’ll be nothing to worry about,” Sirius said.

“So you didn’t tell them why they should come here? They don’t know anything?” Malfoy took his turn at asking.

“Maybe you could ask us exactly what it is we are here to know. And why are we in the presence of two fugitives and a Potter,” the unmistakable voice of Lucius Malfoy said behind them.

Spinning around, Jesse watched distrustfully as Lucius and Narcissa swept through the cave, disgust for their surroundings clear on their sneering faces. Jesse saw Draco’s surprise before his face changed to impassive. She saw Sirius observe him too before he turned to the elder two with his own stern face.

“I’m glad you came,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if you would simply send the Aurors instead.”

“We thought about it,” Lucius admitted. “But you said it involved our son. An explanation now would be greatly appreciated. We do not want to spend more time in your, place, than we have too.”

Sirius caught Draco’s eye and tilted his head toward them. Draco pressed his lips together and shook his head minutely. Jesse watched this, wondering if she should help him out, but then decided against it. She had told Sirius. He needed to tell his parents. Everyone was staring at him. He looked at each of them in turn, before his shoulders slumped. Jesse watched as he twisted his fingers together, and took a deep breath.

“Potter’s pregnant. The baby’s mine.”


	2. Chapter Two

It was kind of fascinating watching Malfoy’s parent’s faces transform. His father’s emotionless face somehow managed to become stone while his mother seemed to forget to be a stuck-up pureblood. Her eyes widened, and a delicate hand covered her open mouth. She was looking at Draco like she had never seen him before. Draco himself was avoiding everybody’s eyes by looking at his shoes.

“They will have to get married,” Lucius said, finally breaking the oppressive silence they had fallen into. Everyone looked at him with various degrees of shock.

“No way,” Jesse blurted out. 

“No Malfoy has ever been born a bastard,” he said, coldly.

He was eyeing her like she was gum that got stuck on his shoe, but she wasn’t backing down. There was no way she was getting married. A baby does not equal marriage. She didn’t care what anybody said.

“Then the baby can have my last name,” she said. 

The others, who had been eyeing both of them like a tennis match, stared at her like she had lost her mind. She even thought she heard a couple of dramatic gasps. Jesse felt like rolling her eyes at the lot of them, but she was still in a stare down with Lucius Malfoy. She was determined to win it. At least he no longer looked like he was carved from stone.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Sirius broke in, placing a hand on Jesse’s shoulder. “We have plenty of months to argue about names, but I have to back up my goddaughter on the marriage thing. Your views are outdated here, Malfoy.”

Lucius clearly didn’t like that, but before he could comment, Narcissa placed a hand on his forearm. 

“I agree. They are too young to get married,” she said. 

Jesse couldn’t remember ever hearing Mrs. Malfoy speak before. Her voice was startlingly soft and gentle, but the real surprise was that Lucius listened to her. 

“Fine, but we will be talking about names at a later date,” he said, sternly as if he thought they would purposefully avoid it. Jesse resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Again.

“Now that we have that out of way, we can get down to business,” Sirius said. “Firstly, you need to decide right here what your true alliances are.”

Lucius eye’s narrowed. Narcissa looked worried. Jesse glanced at Draco only to see him looking back at her. She felt her cheeks burn a little, and watched as pink spots appeared on his own cheeks. She quickly looked away, trying to pay attention to the conversation. 

“The Dark Lord is long dead so I don’t see why this would be important,” Lucius said, stiffly.

Jesse frowned, but Sirius cut off anything that she might have said. Probably for the best too. 

“I see you haven’t been reading the signs,” Sirius drawled. “Because if you were, you would know this is very important. But as it is, if you are still intent on supporting Voldemort, then I am afraid you won’t have any access to Jesse or the baby.”

It was like he had claimed that this was all a plot to get them here to murder them. The outrage they were feeling bypassed all of their masks, and each of them, even Draco, started yelling at Sirius. Jesse was surprised at how much they seemed to already care about the baby. She had expected them to doubt her, to disown the baby, anything but this really. 

“You can’t keep us from family, Sirius,” Narcissa said, switching tactics after it was clear Sirius wouldn’t respond to yelling.

“I can if you are a danger to that family,” he said. “And you are if you are siding with Voldemort.”

Lucius and Narcissa looked at each other. They didn’t say anything, but they obviously communicated somehow because they turned back to Sirius and nodded in sync. Jesse figured it was a married couple thing because over the summer she had seen Mr. and Mrs. Weasley do the same. 

“This doesn’t mean I am suddenly Dumbledore’s lapdog,” Lucius said. “It just means I know how to stick by my family.”

There was some unspoken challenge in what he said, some words that were left off of his sentence, but Jesse didn’t know what it could be or what it meant. Sirius obviously did though because his face closed off, but other than that, he didn’t rise to the bait. 

“Then onto the next thing, the tournament. Jesse obviously can’t compete in the last task. She’ll be six months pregnant,” Sirius said.

“I’ll get my lawyers to look into it,” Lucius said. 

For possibly the first time, Lucius truly looked at her. Jesse didn’t know how he was feeling right now. His mask was firmly in place again. But she did notice how his eyes flicked down to her stomach for a brief moment before he turned back to Sirius.

“I will also get in touch with a reporter so we can get this news out on our terms,” Lucius said. “Who else knows about this? Has she seen a healer?”

“Nobody,” Sirius said. “She came to me for a test. I told her to only tell the father.”

“Then, we also need to schedule an appointment with Dumbledore, and one with a healer. We will be present at both,” he said, tone expected no argument. 

“I would appreciate being kept in the loop,” Sirius answered stiffly.

Lucius inclined his head. “Before we leave, I think we will like a private word with our son.”

Sirius took her into the back of the cave where very little light hit. Buckbeak greeted them after Jesse bowed to him. 

“Hermione is getting suspicious,” she said as petted Buckbeak’s feathered head. “I throw up every morning, and I keep waking her up. I’ve managed to get out of her attempts so far but. . . .”

“I think it would be safe to tell them. You’re going to need all the support you can get,” Sirius said. 

“But would I get support?” Jesse muttered. It was something she had constantly thought about during the week, and tonight just deepened her fears. She never expected the Malfoys to react like they had, and she wasn’t sure what she felt about it. She would have to think about it later when she was alone.

“If they are your real friends. I wouldn’t expect them to be thrilled, or to run to the Malfoys with open arms, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be there for you,” Sirius said. 

“Why did you do all this anyway?” Jesse asked, waving her hand vaguely.

“You are in a vulnerable position right now, and like it or not the Malfoys are a powerful family. I can’t protect you, and I don’t want anyone to try to take advantage of you. The Malfoys will make sure no one will,” Sirius said.

“But..why?”

“Because you are carrying the heir to the Malfoy line, and that trumps anything. Or, it should be. I admit, I took a risk tonight, but it looks like it’ll pan out,” he said. “I don’t like them. I don’t think I ever will, but whether you like it or not they will be in our lives for a long time now.” His eyes flickered to her stomach. “You said you were vomiting. Anything else going on?”

“I get dizzy sometimes, but that’s it,” she said.

“Good. Okay, write to me. About anything. I think they’ve had enough time to talk. You guys need to go back to school before someone finds you missing.” Sirius put his arm around her, and they walked back to the group.

Jesse couldn’t tell how their discussion had gone. Each Malfoy looked the same as before. 

“I told Jesse she should go ahead and tell her friends. He should do the same,” Sirius said, tilting his head in Draco’s direction.

It occurred to Jesse that it was the first time Sirius had acknowledged Draco’s presence since his parents came. He avoided looking at him even now. She could see that Draco also noticed this, but she didn’t know what he thought about it. She, personally, thought Sirius was holding a lot back. He was focusing on her safety right now which she was grateful for, but it would be a huge relief if he talked to her in a non business like way.

“Make sure they are trustworthy. We don’t want this to get out before we are ready,” Lucius said. “We will take our leave now. Draco, don’t get caught out after curfew.”

Sirius said his own goodbyes before pushing them out of the cave. The walk back with Draco was quiet. They couldn’t speak because then they would get caught, but Jesse would feel better if one of them would say something. She didn’t though, and he followed suit. She brought him down to the dungeons, and, with a whispered goodbye, she trekked up to Gryffindor tower. 

The Fat Lady wasn’t too pleased with her, but Jesse easily ignored her grumbling. She was eagerly thinking about her warm bed. However, as she was searching for her clothes, one of the curtains hanging that hang around each of the beds was pushed opened.

“Where have you been?”


	3. Chapter Three

            Jesse clutched her night clothes tight to her as she turned to face Hermione.

            “Um, just on a late night stroll?” Jesse tried.

            The lines on Hermione’s face deepened, her lips practically disappeared. “Something has been up with you, and I want to know what it is,” she demanded. She paused, and then continued in a softer voice. “If you’re in some sort of trouble, it’s okay. I will help you.”

            Jesse’s jaw wobbled and she was on the verge of blurting out everything when Lavender snorted in her sleep.  She looked around, remembering where they were and that she had Ron to talk to too. She looked back into Hermione’s concerned eyes. “I will tell you, but not now. Tomorrow, when we can be alone, and with Ron.”

            She could see that Hermione wasn’t completely pleased, but she simply said, “Okay. Goodnight,” before disappearing back into her curtains.

            Jesse slowly got into her nightclothes before crawling into her bed. She didn’t get much sleep that night. Her mind kept conjuring up images of how her friends might react to the news. None of them were pretty.

***

            The next day was not a good one. She woken up with horrible morning sickness, and missed breakfast. She forgot her Herbology homework and received a detention with Professor Sprout. She couldn’t concentrate on the lecture in Transfiguration so Professor McGonagall held her after class to scold her and to take ten points off Gryffindor. She was late to lunch because of that, and by then, they only had tomato sandwiches left, her absolute least favorite.  To top it all off, while on their way to History they ran into Malfoy with his gang.

            Jesse hadn’t spent a lot of time thinking about how she would interact with him now. Though she should have to since in the next couple of weeks everyone would know she was carrying his baby. She frowned at him not liking how he once again complicated her life.

            “What do you want, Malfoy?” she demanded. She did not want to deal with all of this right now. She wanted a nap and some treacle tart. Not necessarily in that order.

            “I’ve heard you had a bad day,” he said, eyeing her up and down with his usual critical gaze.

            Jesse flushed, straightening up. Irritation boiled up inside of her. “Yeah? And you’ve come to make it worse like you always do I bet. Well, not this time, you git,” she spat, spinning around, and striding down another corridor.

            To her eternal horror, tears prickled at the edges of her eyes. She sniffed and it was like a waterfall found a new home on her face. Gasping, she shot into a room that nobody ever used. She sank to her knees, her hand pressed against her mouth in an ineffective attempt to stifle the loud sobs that kept escaping her.

            Jesse jumped a little as an arm rested on her shoulder, and another wrapped around her waist.

            “Don’t let that tosser bother you Jesse,” Ron said.

            “He’s always bothering me especially when he isn’t being bothersome,” Jesse hiccupped, wiping a hand across her face.

            “Oh, Jesse, tell us what’s going on,” Hermione pleaded. “Let us help you.”

            Jesse was moderately surprised that Hermione wasn’t talking about missing class, but she shouldn’t be when she thought about it. Hermione always did like to surprise them. Like when she hit Malfoy in the face last year. Jesse sighed. It always came back to Malfoy.

            “Promise you won’t freak out?” Jesse whispered staring at the floor.

            “We’ll be there for you no matter what,” Hermione said.

            Jesse huffed at the evasion, and moved into a more comfortable position. Ron and Hermione followed suit.

            “Okay, so you guys remember the night of the Yule Ball, I disappeared and you wanted to know where, but I wouldn’t tell you?” Jessie said in a rush figuring it was best to rip it off like a band aid. “Well, I ended up in the Slytherin dorm rooms with Malfoy, and, well, now I’m pregnant.”

            Jesse bunched up her shoulders around her ears, curling up her hands in the beat of silence that followed her little bomb.

            “This is a joke right?” Ron breathed out. “You can’t be pregnant. We’re fourteen!”

            “I know,” she sniffed. “Trust me I know.”

            “Why didn’t you use protection?” he demanded.

            Jesse felt her face burn bright hot. This was the first time anyone asked for specifics of that night. “I don’t know,” she said, mortified but miserable. “I wasn’t thinking.”

            He sighed, leaning on her side. “I can’t believe I’m going to be an uncle.”

            “Ron!” Hermione screeched. Jesse winced. “Don’t make this about you. Oh, this is horrible. Jesse what’s going to happen with your schooling? What about the tournament? What about Malfoy’s family?”

            “Um,” she started, scratching at her cheek. “I don’t know about school, but Malfoy’s dad said he would deal with the tournament.”

            “Wait, you already told the Malfoys? Who else knows?” Hermione asked.

            “Of course she told the Malfoys,” Ron snorted. “They are part of the family.”

            Jesse saw Hermione look at Ron confused by his behavior, but Jesse figured it was a pureblood thing. Even if the Weasley’s didn’t stand for the whole blood purity nonsense, they still were purebloods and it showed through sometimes.

            “Yeah, only they and Sirius know right now. They gave us permission to tell our friends before they tell the Dumbledore and the paper though. I don’t know who Draco considers his close friends.” Jesse frowned. She didn’t know anything about him really only that he was rich, arrogant, and a bit of a bully. He was going to be a great father figure she was sure.

            Hermione appeared to be mulling everything over. Jesse was sure a trip to the library would be in her future. She wouldn’t try to stop Hermione either. In fact, Jesse will probably happily go with her. She knew nothing about pregnancy, and she didn’t remember ever seeing a baby up close. People on Privet Drive always kept their kids far away from her. They even went as far as crossing the street when they saw her walking toward them.

            Jesse turned back to Ron. “So why are you taking this so well? Not that I want you flying off the handle or anything, but, it’s Malfoy. Our rival ever since school started. Your family’s rival since forever.”

            “Well, he was your rival, but you made a baby with him didn’t you?” Ron tossed out, grinning to take out any sting his words might have carried. “I’m not saying I’m happy about this. If you say _you’re_ happy about it I wouldn’t believe you. I won’t ever be his friend Jesse, and I will never respect or care for his father.” A flash of anger crossed his face, before he smiled again. “They won’t like that I will refer to myself as the baby’s uncle I expect, so I’ll do it as much as possible.” Jesse laughed. “Honestly, you and Malfoy, you’ve been different this year, you know? Not fighting as much.” He shrugged. “And I’ve spent too much fighting with you this year. I don’t want to lose my best mate again.”

            For the second time that day, Jesse felt tears build up in her eyes as she threw herself in the arms of her first ever friend. As horrible as it might sound, she had fully expected both Ron and Hermione to abandon her over this, and that stress had probably lead to her embarrassing breakdown earlier.

            “I think we should tell the others before this gets out,” Hermione said.

            Jesse pulled away from Ron. “What? Who? And Why?”

            “Fred, George, Ginny, the quidditch team,” Hermione ticked off. “They should know.”

            “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said, doubtfully. “I was just going to tell you two.”

            “They’re your friends too. They’ll support you, and you’ll need it when all this comes out to the school,” Hermione explained.

            “They won’t turn their backs on you, Jesse,” Ron stated.

            She bit her lip. While she was surprised at her friend’s reactions, she was sure wouldn’t be by the rest of the schools. She shuddered. It’ll be horrible. Having some more back up would be nice she had to admit. She doubted any of Malfoy’s friends would help her out.

            “Okay, when should we do this?” she nodded.

            “The sooner the better,” Hermione said. “Right after dinner would be best.”

            Jesse agreed.

            The rest of the day was easier to get through now that she knew she would have her best friends on her side. Although she was nervous about telling other people, she couldn’t see how their reaction could be any worse than Ron’s and Hermione’s. They only knew Malfoy on the quidditch pitch. Rarely, if ever, did they see him outside of it with being in different years. There is only his father’s and Slytherin’s reputation to object to.

            At dinner, the three of them managed to ask everyone to wait up for them in the common room once everyone went to bed. They were curious, but had to settle for getting answers for later. Jesse could feel Malfoy’s gaze on her while she ate, but she studiously ignored him, which was harder than she wanted to admit.

            She was so busy concentrating on not looking up that she didn’t notice at first when Hermione started sliding more vegetables on her plate. It was only when she bit into a brussel sprout that she took more notice of her immediate surroundings. Ron was shoveling food into his mouth, but he still managed to look amused while Hermione was sipping on her juice and looking over at her plate critically.

            “I think that’s good for today. You need to start cutting off your sweets as well, Jesse,” she said sternly.

            “What?” Jesse asked.

            “You need to eat healthier now,” Hermione said. She went back to eating off her own plate. “And we should visit the library when we finish eating.”

            “I eat plenty healthy,” Jesse said indignantly. Really, she was practically a vegetarian. “And a little sweets never hurt anybody.”

            “Why do we all need to go to the library anyway?” Ron cut in, saving them all from a lecture about nutrition. 

            “We need to research,” she said. Her eyes stared meaningfully at Jesse’s stomach making Ron’s mouth open. Jesse wrapped an arm around it shielding it from view.

             Involuntarily, her eyes flickered to the Syltherin table. Malfoy was busy talking to Parkinson. Jesse recalled how he had taken her to the Yule Ball, and looked away, biting her lip. She wondered if he had told her or anyone yet. She wondered what their reactions were, and what they thought of her performance this morning.  

            She stood up abruptly. “I’m going to head to the library now,” she said, leaving before either of them could question her.

            The packed room was too much for her to handle right then.

***

            After a couple hours in the library, Jesse felt much calmer with a finished potions essay and a small book on pregnancy and childcare. Hermione was disappointed in the lack of information available, but Jesse figured they didn’t want to encourage these kinds of situations.

            They made it back to the common room a couple minutes after curfew. Looking around, she saw the qudditch team, and Ginny all sitting together looking over at her curiously, and a couple other students who were rushing to get their homework done.

            Jesse looked longingly at her usual place by the fire, but followed Hermione’s prodding over to the group.

            “Hey, guys,” she said nervously as she sat down.

            As the others returned greetings, she took comfort in her two best friend’s presence on either side of her. The group eyes were all on her. She rubbed her palms on her thighs. There was no use in beating around the bush.

            “I’m pregnant,” she blurted out. “Malfoy’s the dad.”

            In the part of her mind that wasn’t going crazy with stress and nervous, she recognized that this would have been a great moment to have a camera. Everyone’s face was picture-worthy with their shock. Even Ron and Hermione looked surprised. They probably didn’t expect her to blurt it out like that.

            “This is a joke, right?” George asked.

            “A really bad one at that,” Fred added.

            They both looked way more serious than she had ever seen them. The only other time she could remember was when Ginny was taken into the Chamber of Secrets.

            “No joke,” she said. “I found out a couple weeks ago.”

            “But pregnant? You’re so young though,” Katie said, looking at Alicia. “I mean, I couldn’t imagine.” She placed a hand on her stomach.

            “But Malfoy? You hate him,” Ginny said, her eyes still wide.

            “Obviously not enough,” Ron snickered.

            That made Fred and George crack a smile finally, but Ginny just looked confused.

            “But you hate him too,” Ginny said.

            Ron shrugged. “Yeah, but I didn’t have sex with him.”

            This brought actual laughter, and Jesse relaxed as nobody even threw the slightest look of disgust or anger her way.

            “Jesse.” Angelina leaned forward, her face serious.

            Jesse immediately tensed up. “Yeah?”

            “You’ll still be able to play quidditch next year, right?”

            Jesse laughed out the tension as she confirmed that yes, she was definitely able to play, and no, she would absolutely not be lenient on the Slytherins. 

           

 

           

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has taken a lot of time to put up. Sorry about that. This has been a slow going fic, but I want to speed it up. I was wondering if you guys had any ideas on how far I should take this story? Any opinions are welcomed.


	5. Chapter Four

The next couple of weeks passed a lot smoother than the month before it had. Jesse guessed she had underestimated how keeping the situation a secret was affecting her. But her friends had rallied around her, and she was content to bask in the happiness that made her feel.

            She hadn’t heard anything from Sirius, and while that disappointed her, she was a little glad for it. Jesse decided to try hard at being normal for a while, to forget about the little human inside of her until it went to the point where she couldn’t. As a result, she hadn’t talked to Draco since their little confrontation that had led to her confiding in her friends. Jesse knew she should, but every time she saw him trying to catch her eye, she panicked. So she avoided him. Rather successfully too if she did say so herself, until, at last it seemed he had gotten fed up, and deemed it necessary to send her an owl requesting a meeting. She had been thinking of ignoring the note, and acting surprised if he brought it up later. Unfortunately, Hermione found out about it, as she always does, and forced Jesse to answer.

            So here Jesse was, waiting in the agreed upon courtyard for Draco to show up. She shivered, and pulled the baggy sleeves over her hands half of her wishing she owned gloves, and the other half wondering why they decided to meet outside in February at night.

            Footsteps crunching on the snow made her look up. Jesse frowned when she noticed how he practically glided across the snow to the bench she was at. When she got here she almost fell on her arse at least three times. When he sat next to her, she quickly became interested in her shoes.  He shifted, swiping off snow that had gotten on his coat, but still, Jesse said nothing.

            “Dumbledore is going to be informed tomorrow,” Draco spoke, finally. Jesse’s head snapped up. He was looking at her steadily. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking about. “My parents want us to be there.”

            “Oh,” she whispered. _No more pretending then._ “What time?”

            “Right after breakfast. They said to meet them at his office.”

            “I’ll be there,” Jesse said. She looked back down at the ground.  “Is there something else you needed?” she asked after he didn’t leave.

            “Yeah, actually. I wanted to talk.”

            She thought about saying, “About what?” but thought better of it. She knew they needed to talk. It didn’t make it easier to do though.

            Beside her, Draco sighed and shifted his weight. “I’m assuming you told Weasley and Granger. How’d they take it?”

            She shrugged. “Pretty well considering.”

            He made a funny little sound that forced Jesse to look up. “And you did tell them I was the father, right?” he asked in disbelief.

            “Of course,” Jesse laughed. “I also told the quidditch team and Ginny. They know it’s you too.”

            He rubbed his hands against his pants, licking his lips. “That’s . . that’s a lot of people.”

            “I guess? Who did you tell?”

            “Vincent, Greg, and Pansy. Blaise and Theodore. That’s it.”

            It took Jesse a moment to realize he meant Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, Zabini and Nott. When she did, she winced.

            “What?” Draco snapped. “My friends not good enough? I can tell you they’re better than your precious Wea-”

            “Stop! Merlin, just hold on,” Jesse sighed, shaking her head. Helplessness flooded through her, weighing her down. Once again, the situation she found herself in seemed impossible. Draco and her would never work out. But, she looked up at him, his face still showing traces of anger, she knew no matter how hard it would be they would still have to work at it. For the baby’s sake and for her own sanity.

            “I just meant. Parkinson? You took her to the Yule Ball,” she tried to explain.

            The anger seemed to melt right off of him. “Oh, right. She’s not mad or anything like that. We went as friends, anyway. What about Thomas? You went with him.” He frowned, some anger returning to his face. Jesse wondered why.

            “I haven’t told him, but I should give him the heads up. I don’t see why he would be that bothered though,” she said. “So did they take the news worse than my friends did?”

            “Well, they already knew what happened so it wasn’t much of a surprise, but they were worried.”

            “They already knew?” Jesse almost shouted, her eyes almost bugging out of their sockets.

            Draco frowned. “Yeah. It made it easier to tell them that you were pregnant so I’m glad I did.” He raised his eyebrows. “Why? You have a problem with what I share with my friends?”

            “If it’s about me, yes,” Jesse snapped.

            “You don’t dictate what I do or what I say, Potter.” Draco glared at her.

            Her mouth twisted back into a frown, and she regretted not leaving after he talked about the meeting. She stood up abruptly, shoving at the snow clinging to her clothes. “I should get going. Hermione and Ron will probably come looking for me soon.”

            Jesse saw Draco opening his mouth, probably for more insults, but she didn’t give him any time to do so. She strode back into the castle, and headed toward the library, knowing that that was where Hermione and Ron would be. She would spend the rest of the night doing her homework, and pretending she wasn’t in this situation. It would be her last night able to do so.

***

            The stone gargoyle guarding Dumbledore’s office had never looked colder. Jesse wrapped her arms around herself and wished it was a school day so she could hide under her warm robes. She had nothing so nice in her muggle clothing. It only made her feel worse when the Malfoy family stood there waiting for her while looking like royalty.

            “Did Draco not tell you the time of the meeting?” Lucius Malfoy drawled. “We told him we wanted to enter the meeting together.”

            Jesse looked down at shoes. They were scuffed with holes on either side. Her pinky tow almost stuck out. “Sorry. Morning sickness.”

The Malfoys were quiet, and Jesse didn’t look up to see their reactions. There was a clearing of throat, and then, “Candy Floss.”

            The stairway opened up, and they filed up the stairs quickly. The door opened for them before anyone could knock. Dumbledore’s office looked the same as when Jesse was there any other time though she didn’t look too closely. Her eyes were focused on Sirius who stood from his armchair when they entered.

            The next thing Jesse knew, she was wrapped in her godfather’s arms. She could hear the Malfoy’s speaking. Sirius’s chest rumbled as he talked back to them, but Jesse paid no attention. It wasn’t until Sirius pulled away, and guided her to the armchair next to him that she paid any attention to her surroundings. Draco was on her other side with his mother on his other side. Lucius was standing behind them, centered between her and Draco. Dumbledore sat behind his desk, arms folded in front of him. His eyes were twinkling, but his face was serious. His eyes stared at Lucius and no one else. Finally, he spoke,

            “And what is the meaning of this meeting, Mr. Malfoy?” Dumbledore asked. “Your letter was rather vague, and Sirius refused to answer any questions before you came here.”

            “It’s rather simple and complex Dumbledore,” Lucius said. Jesse was surprised there was no malice to his words. Anytime she had seen Dumbledore and Lucius together, Lucius had never hid his dislike of the Headmaster. “You see, Draco and Miss Potter here are expecting a child together. She is due sometime in early summer, but, you see, there is now no way she can compete in the Triwizard Tournament. You need to see that she be removed immediately.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I've been away from this story. I've been dealing with rather severe depression. This year I finally sought help, and now I feel like I can come back and continue this story. I'm not sure if anyone is still willing to read this, but I'm gonna to continue anyway for my own peace of mind.


	6. Draco's Thoughts

      Draco Malfoy was annoyed. A lot of things annoyed him on a regular basis, so one would think it wouldn’t mess with his concentration, but this annoyance was related to Potter. And she always affected him more than other annoyances like people being late, the smell of sandalwood, the sound of chewing gum, and the color orange. She got under his skin and into his head even when she wasn’t doing anything to him or around him. Like now. She probably wasn’t even thinking about him. She was who knows how deep in The Black Lake searching for the person she would sorely miss, and Draco was in the stands with his friends feeling like a twat.

     “Who thought this task would be entertaining?” Blaise Zabini asked from the row in front of him.

     “Probably a Hufflepuff,” Pansy said.

      Draco joined in the laughter, shifting for the hundredth time in the forty minutes they’ve been forced to sit on these wooden stands in the freezing cold watching the still lake as the champions did their thing.

     “Can’t be that much longer now,” Theo Nott said. “They only got an hour.”

     “Still too long,” Blaise said.

     “At least the first task was exciting,” Vincent Crabbe said.

     They all muttered their agreement, and fell silent again, watching the lake. Draco sighed and looked over at the people below them. The Slytherins had set at the top so they could see everyone clearly. His gaze went immediately to the Gryffindors as if being forced like a magnet. He didn’t see Granger’s nasty bushy hair, the horrible flaming hair of Weasley, or the wild black hair of Potter, and just like that, his annoyance surged to the forefront again.

       “Careful dear,” Pansy leaned over to whisper in his ear. “You’re looking a little green there.”

       Draco shrugged her off with a disgusted sneer. “I’m not jealous.”

       “Of course not.” She smirked and leaned back. “You have no reason to be jealous.”

       “Malfoys are never jealous.”

       “They never lose their virginity to Gyffindors either,” she leaned in the whisper again.

        Luckily, Draco didn’t have to dignify that with a response as finally some action was happening with the lake. He ignored the heat on his cheeks and Pansy’s laughter, and stared intently at the lake as Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang made their way to shore. Next up was Krum and Granger. And last was Potter, Weasley, and a small blonde girl that apparently was Delacour’s little sister.

       Draco’s jaw was clenched so tight he couldn’t even mock Potter for her heroics. When the points were finally disrupted, he was one of the first ones that left. He holed himself up in his dorm for the rest of the day, only coming out for lunch and dinner. The next day, he was out and about Malfoy sneer in place and extra special insults on the tip of his tongue.

***

_She’s pregnant. I’m going to be a father._

       When Potter slipped him the note in Herbology, he briefly considered humiliating her in front of the class. Maybe it was the worry he spotted in her green eyes or the nervous way she chewed on her plump lower lip, but instead of opening his big mouth, he kept the note hidden and showed up at the time and place she set to meet. And now everything had changed.

       He slipped through the week in a daze. There was rarely a moment the pregnancy wasn’t on his mind. On the brief moment he got lost in a book or laughed at one of Pansy’s jokes, he would see a flash of green or a flick of black hair, and he would be back thinking of his impending fatherhood.

      Which led to a lot of panic. He kept a list of everything that could go wrong because of this, and it ended up longer than some of his essays. He found himself hovering over a blank piece of parchment, wanting to write to tell his parents. But every time he touched the tip of his quill to the parchment, he remembered that the, apparently innocent, escaped convict wanted to keep it quiet. Draco didn’t want to know what would happen if he disobeyed. So he waited, and at the right time met up with Potter and snuck out of school to meet the infamous Sirius Black.  

       Walking up the mountain was horrendous. With every step, little bits of rock would slide down. Draco had to keep up with Jesse as they were still under her invisibility cloak (and he was still slightly shocked about _that_ revelation) which only made it more difficult. Jesse ignored him when he suggested they take it off, and when he said he should walk ahead of her. So all he could do was hover over her in an effort to make sure she didn’t fall and hurt the baby.

       Jesse led the way into a dark cave illuminated by a couple candles. Draco struggled against his natural reaction to sneer, but that ceased to be a problem when he caught sight of a familiar hippogriff sleeping in the middle of circle of bones.

         _Fuck._

Draco could swear his heart stopped. He knew the creature had disappeared, but he had no idea he would ever see it again. Of course, Potter was involved with it. But he had no more time to think of the matter as Jesse took his safety barrier revealed their presence.

       Sirius Black was simultaneously more and less intimidating that Draco had expected. He was as dirty as the place he resided in. His hair needed a good brush and cut. He needed to eat more and to get some new robes. Draco was glad he wouldn’t get close because he was sure that he smelled horrible. Draco could tell he cared greatly for Jesse so that meant he was probably innocent yet it was bad news for him since he was the one that got her pregnant.

       “Malfoy,” Black said, his voice low and gruff. It was obvious his voice wasn’t used much.

        “Mr. Black,” Draco said, looking down. Better to not give the man a bigger reason to hate him than he already did.

         “Call me Sirius. Now did you do as I tell you? No one else knows?”

         “I haven’t told anybody,” Jesse said.

          “I haven’t told anyone either. But I need to tell my parents. They’ll want to know why they weren’t informed first thing,” Draco said.

          “That won’t be a problem because we are going to meet with them right now,” Sirius said, simply.

          Now that Draco wasn’t expecting. _Though_ , he thought, _Sirius_ was _a pureblood_. _He should know how important family was. Maybe he and Mother were close before he got sent to Azkaban._

          “But, how?” Jesse gasped.

           “I sent them a letter after you left me telling them to meet us here. It is best to inform them at once, and then we can plan from there,” Sirius said.

           “Are you sure that it is safe?”

           Draco tried not to frown. Really, she was going to have their grandchild! What did she think they would do?

           “Yes I’m sure. There’ll be nothing to worry about,” Sirius said.

           “So you didn’t tell them why they should come here? They don’t know anything?” Draco asked.

           “Maybe you could explain to us exactly what it is we are here to know. And why are we in the presence of two fugitives and a Potter,” the unmistakable voice of his father said from behind them.

           Draco spun around to see his parent’s sweeping into the cave with elegance that he tried to imitate on a daily basis. Breathing became a chore, and he became acutely aware of all the creases on his robes and scruffs on his shoes from the climb up the mountain.

           “I’m glad you came,” Sirius said. “I wasn’t sure if you would simply send the Aurors instead.”

           “We thought about it,” Father said. “But you said it involved our son. An explanation now would be greatly appreciated. We do not want to spend more time in your, place, than we have too.”

            Sirius caught Draco’s eye and tilted his head toward them. Draco pressed his lips together and shook his head. How could he tell them this? Like this? Draco had wanted to tell them all week, and now that he could do it, he wished he hadn’t followed Sirius’s instructions. This would have been much easier in a letter where he didn’t have to see their faces.

           The cave was quiet. Everyone was staring at him. He looked at each of them in turn, before taking a deep breath. Might as well get it over with.

            “Potter’s pregnant. The baby’s mine,” he said.

            Shock stole over his parent’s faces, but that’s all he could bear to see. Draco looked down at his shoes so he wouldn’t see their disappointment in him. The silence was suffocating.

            “They will have to get married,” Father said with no emotion.

            Draco looked up sharply. Married? He was fourteen! But then he saw similar shock on Mother’s face. He relaxed. She would talk sense into him. As usual.

            “No way,” Jesse said.

            “No Malfoy has ever been born a bastard,” Father said.

             Draco winced. No Malfoy was a teenage parent either.

            “Then the baby can have my last name,” Jesse said.

            Draco gasped. Did she even know what she was saying? That would be the ultimate form of disrespect. They were from the Sacred Twenty-Eight. For the baby not to be a Malfoy, to not have their heritage, it was unheard of. It couldn’t happen.

            “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Sirius said. “We have plenty of months to argue about names, but I have to back up my goddaughter on the marriage thing. Your views are outdated here, Malfoy.”

            “I agree,” Mother said, placing a delicate hand on Father’s arm with a sharp look. “They are too young to get married.”

            Unsurprisingly, Father gave in. “Fine, but we will be talking about names at a later date.”

            “Now that we have that out of way, we can get down to business,” Sirius said. “Firstly, you need to decide right here what your true alliances are.”

            Draco looked at Jesse knowing this was what she was worried about. She looked back and their eyes met for the first time that night. He had to look away.

            “The Dark Lord is long dead so I don’t see why this would be important,” Father said.

            “I see you haven’t been reading the signs,” Sirius drawled. “Because if you were, you would know this is very important. But as it is, if you are still intent on supporting Voldemort, then I am afraid you won’t have any access to Jesse or the baby.”

            “You can’t do that,” Draco protested.

            His parents’s also started telling him how that was definitely not happening. Draco was confused on why this was even being brought up. The Dark Lord was long dead. What did it matter if his father might have supported him before?   

            “You can’t keep us from family, Sirius,” Narcissa said, switching tactics after it was clear Sirius wouldn’t respond to yelling.

            “I can if you are a danger to that family,” he said. “And you are if you are siding with Voldemort.”

            Mother and Father were quiet for a long time. Too long in Draco’s book. Finally, though, they nodded.

            “This doesn’t mean I am suddenly Dumbledore’s lapdog,” Father said. “It just means I know how to stick by my family.”

            Draco relaxed. That was good. He stopped listening to the rest of the conversation until his parents took him to the side.

            “I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “I didn’t mean to shame the family name.”

            Mother set her hand on his shoulder and he found himself relaxing as she talked in her usual calming way.

            “I can’t say that I’m happy about this, but I am in no way shamed,” she said. “This is not going to be easy. You are going to have to grow up faster than you should have to.”

            “No more silly pranks. You need to focus more. It’s not just about you anymore. You have to take care of your family,” Father said.

            Draco gulped, but nodded. “I’m sorry.”

            Sirius and Jesse walked over, and their conversation ended too soon for Draco’s liking. But at least now he could write to them about the situation.

            “I told Jesse she should go ahead and tell her friends. He should do the same,” Sirius said, tilting his head in Draco’s direction. He was careful not to look at him, Draco noticed.

            “Make sure they are trustworthy. We don’t want this to get out before we are ready,” Father said. “We will take our leave now. Draco, don’t get caught out after curfew.”

            His parents left, and Jesse and Draco followed, hidden once again under her invisibility cloak. Now his parents knew, but that only gave him permission to worry about literally everything else about the situation. Potter was going to tell her friends. He was dead. They were going to kill him. He was sure of it.

***

            The next day Draco tried to start acting on his father’s words. Word had reached him that Jesse had gotten detention and when they had Transfiguration together she got a lecture. By the look of her she looked really unwell, but when Draco tried to offer her any help Jesse had called him a git and ran off. He didn’t know what else to do other than go on to History where she and Weasley and Granger didn’t show up. His notes suffered as he worried. How was he supposed to step up and take care of his family when she wouldn’t even talk to him?

            After class Pansy forced them to follow her to the common room and up into their dorm room. Draco flopped down his four-poster bed with a sigh. Blaise and Theo lay down on their own beds. Pansy stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. Vincent and Greg both sat on Vincent’s bed. They were all watched Draco and Pansy like they were going to put on a show.

            “Well?” Pansy demanded.

            “Well, what?” Draco asked.

            Her eyes narrowed. “Do not play dumb with me, Draco Malfoy. What has been up with you this past week? And today with that scene with Potter?”

            Draco sighed, and gestured for her to take a seat beside him. With one last suspicious look, Pansy sat down.

            “Alright, so there’s something I have to tell you guys, but you can’t tell _anyone_ , okay?”

            “You know we will keep your secrets, Draco,” Theo said.

            The rest of them nodded. Draco resisted a smile. Yeah, he knew. That’s why they were the only ones he was going to tell about his impending fatherhood to.

            “So you remember the Yule Ball?” he asked, still a little nervous.

           “So, this _is_ about Potter,” Pansy said, smug about being right.

           “That’s not an amazing deduction,” Blaise rolled his eyes. “Everything’s _always_ about Potter.”

           Pansy glared at him, and he smirked back.

           “So what asinine thing have you said this time?” Theo asked.

           Draco narrowed his eyes at him even as the others snickered.

           “I didn’t say anything,” Draco snapped. “She’s pregnant, idiots.”

           Silence.

_Well that shut them up._

           Pansy hit him on the back of the head. Hard.

           “Ow,” Draco complained, making sure his hair wasn’t messed up.

           “You idiot! Why didn’t you use the contraception spell,” she asked.

           Draco spluttered. He could feel his face heating up. No one else had asked for any details of that night. It caught him off guard. Vincent and Greg were laughing softly at him.

           “I, uh, I don’t -”

           “I can’t believe this. You’re gonna be a father,” Blaise cut in. “We’re fourteen!”

           “This is going to be really tough, Draco,” Theo said, his dark eyes serious. “Especially with Potter as the mother.”

           The familiar anxiety was rising up his throat. Pansy must have noticed this because her face softened, and she put her hand on top of his.

           “Luckily, you’ll have us to help you,” she said.

           The others voiced their agreement. Draco smiled, glad for his friends. He knew he would need them when people found out about the news.

           “Potter seemed upset with you today,” Vincent stated.

           Draco sighed. “I was trying to be nice. We aren’t, anything, but with the baby we are going to need to be civil at least. She just blew up.”

           Theo hummed and Blaise nodded.

           “You are going to need to keep trying though,” Pansy said. “Things are going to be hard enough without you two fighting as well.”

           “I will,” Draco promised.

           That turned out to be harder than he expected. Potter did well to avoid him no matter how much he subtly tried to get her attention. Theo eventually said to leave her alone, that they had plenty of time to talk later. For now, he should simply enjoy the quiet. Pansy disagreed, but Draco took up Theo’s advice. He spent time with his friends, played a couple pranks on some nameless Hufflepuff students with Greg, Vincent, and Blaise, studied with Theo and Pansy, and read the books on childcare secreted away in his bed that his mother had sent along to him.

           In a way, Draco was relieved when his father sent him an owl demanding he and Potter show up to join them telling Dumbledore the news. Acting as if nothing had changed was odd. He was eager to talk to Potter about the baby. He wanted to see the healer, talk about names, start making plans. He couldn’t dictate everything on his own, so it was impossible to know anything. There was so many parenting choices they needed to start making. He was worried there wasn’t going to be enough time.

           Unfortunately, Potter did not seem to feel the same way. The meeting he set up to inform her about the meeting did not go as planned. She was stubborn and bullheaded in all of Draco’s attempts to be friendly. He wasn’t sure what to do. That night he had nightmares of their child being taken away from them because they couldn’t get along. They became the laughing stock of the Wizarding World.

           Seeing his parents was a relief. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy never worried, was never anxious. They were confident, classy, poised. They always had three plans in place in case one ended up going sideways. They were everything Draco aspired to be. And they showed exactly why in the meeting with Dumbledore.


End file.
